Pirates drop third straight against the Goldpanners

Johan Camacho runs to first base against the SoCal Shepherds June 10, 2022. Photo by Izzy De Souza

The Ventura County Pirates (1-4-1) lost their fourth straight game in game 3 of the seven game set against the Alaska Goldpanners in Fairbanks, AK Tuesday. The final score was 8-2.

Right-hander Dylan Goodrich was given the start for this game and hoped to flip the switch for The Pirates. Goodrich started the game off strong with a clean first inning but it didn't take long for the Goldpanners to start giving Goodrich some problems once the second and third inning came along. Despite running into trouble, Goodrich minimized the damage and finished his start with 3 IP, 5 H, 3 R (1 ER), 1 BB, and 3 K while throwing 54 pitches.

As for the offense, coming off the midst of nearly being no-hit, The Pirates hoped to attack and be aggressive early on.

“Certainly we've got to make some adjustments and fix [the lack of production],” said Pirates head coach George Vranau. “We can't keep putting ourselves in a hole and working to climb out of it every single time.”

Unfortunately for The Pirates, the bats stayed cold early on as they didn’t get their first hit until the 4th inning when Ryan Camacho singled. Their first run came in the 6th inning when they were already trailing 8-0. Eli Paton ledoff the 6th with a single followed by another single by Camacho which scored Patton.

The eight runs allowed reflects unfairly on the Pirates pitching, which was hampered by errors. The bullpen found defensive support 4th inning came around. Left-handed pitcher Andrew Tovar entered in relief and had himself an exceptional outing. Other than the few walks he allowed, In three innings pitched Tovar only allowed two hits while striking out three.

In the bottom of the seventh inning with two outs, middle infielder Lee Brandzel, who does not regularly pitch, entered in relief for Tovar and had himself an amazing outing as he retired all four batters faced with only 12 pitches.

The Pirates had one last chance to soften the blow in the ninth and they did just that by tacking on another run. Camacho had ledoff the inning with a single making his third hit of the game and finishing his night going 3-4 with 1 run scored and 1 RBI.

After losing again on Wednesday, the Pirates look to flip the script Thursday evening versus the Goldpanners for a fifth straight game. First pitch is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. PST. For more information visit the @vcountypirates on Instagram.